US citizen wishing to marry a Canadian citizen

[olenaandkirk]

I met a lady from Canada November '07 who has a daughter who lives in the US as a lawful permanent resident. She is currently living with me and we want to get married. She has a Canadian address, but has not lived there since March '08. From what I understand we need to complete the I-129F for her to marry me here in the US. Are any other forms required along with the I-129F? Does she need to return to Canada for any length of time before we marry here?

[Amir]

If she's been in the US for 90 days or more, marry and file an I-485; if not, hold off for marriage until at least 90 days; and thank the Lord that you didn't have to deal with a US consulate.

[olenaandkirk]

thank you...

Thank you for the information about the I-485. We plan to marry within the next couple of weeks. Is the I-485 processing the only way for her to be able to work legally in the US? Or is there other paperwork we can file to obtain employment authorization, since the I-485 will take a while to process? Thanks for your help.

[PraetorianXI]

File I-765, it should give her an employment authorization card, valid for 2 years.